


Son

by Burgie



Series: Katja Joins Team Good AU [27]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 08:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7794235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buck finally remembers who he really is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Son

“Any progress?” Alex stood in front of the two-way mirror, watching the boy inside the little room. He’d been given a bed and some basic amenities, as well as a bathroom hidden away for privacy. The mirror itself was warded against everything, just in case.

“Some,” said the elder female druid in charge of his recovery. “He is capable of performing basic tasks by himself. He made himself breakfast this morning.”

“What was it?” asked Alex. She didn’t expect him to be able to cook this early.

“Only cereal,” said the druid. “But it is progress, he recognised that he was hungry and did something to remedy that.”

“That’s good,” said Alex. He’d been essentially frozen when they’d brought him back, and he was struggling with a lot of things. Having the education level of a teenager from centuries past hadn’t helped him any. “Is he ready for the test?”

“Are you ready?” asked the druid. Alex nodded, her fingers tightening on the bar that ran in front of the window so that she didn’t play with her hair. It had taken ages to braid it just right.

There was a hum as the mirror on his side turned into a window. The boy looked up, startled by the sound. He had not recognised her yet. Maybe today…

“Buck,” said the elder druid, her voice the soothing one of a therapist. “Do you recognise this woman?”

“I killed her,” said Buck.

“No, you didn’t,” said the druid. “This is one from another life.”

“I… was ordered to kill her,” said Buck, his brow furrowing in concentration. “But I couldn’t. She killed me, though.”

“Not this one,” said the druid. “Who is she to you, Buck?”

“My… enemy?” Buck frowned. “No. Not enemy. Family?”

“You tell me, Buck,” said the druid.

“Yes,” said Buck, nodding. “She’s my family.”

“Perhaps this might help you,” said the druid. An image was projected next to Alex on the glass, one put together by Linda from scenes of the past. This was the Alex that Buck would know, the real Buck, anyway.

“Mama,” said Buck. Alex grinned, relieved. Then he frowned. “But… you’re dead.”

“Do you know about the cycles, Buck?” asked Alex, deciding to speak up for once. It was a risk- he’d lashed out at her the last few times she’d spoken to him. 

“Which cycles?” asked Buck. He squinted his eyes at her, and Alex knew that he was using magic sight. “You’re a Soul Rider.”

“Yes, I am,” said Alex. “As was your mama.”

“The cycles… every one hundred years, four new Soul Riders appear,” said Buck.

“Yes,” said Alex with a nod. “I’m the Alex of this cycle.”

“Do you remember anyone else, Buck?” asked the druid. “Maybe someone white?”

“Maybe this will remind you,” said Alex. She picked up a white coat off the floor and put it on.

“Now you look like my mama,” said Buck. “She always wore that.”

“She did?” asked Alex. The visions had never shown that.

“Yeah,” said Buck. “She wore that while… while mum was out swimming.”

“What do you remember about your mum?” asked Alex. He had to remember Katja for who she was, not as the General but as the siren. Her hands tightened around the bar again, eliciting a creak from it.

“She was a siren,” said Buck. “Like me only with a fish tail instead of tentacles. She raised me with you, mama. And then…”

“It’s okay if you don’t remember,” said the druid. “Take your time, Buck.”

“I died?” asked Buck. “But I’m alive now.”

“Sadly, yes, you did die, Buck,” said the druid.

“You revived, though,” said Alex. “Because you inherited your mother’s immortality and regeneration.” She knew from the past visions that Buck had watched her killed in front of him. No wonder he couldn’t talk about it.

“Can I see my mum?” asked Buck.

“Can he?” asked Alex, looking to the druid.

“He has shown no indications of harbouring any dark magic,” said the druid, consulting her notes. “His aggression is also down. By all appearances, he is just a regular tentacled merboy. Squid merboy, I believe his mother said.”

“So can she see him now?” asked Alex. 

“Oh! Yes, I believe that we can do that now,” said the druid. “You can go get her.”

“Is it time?” asked Katja, sitting in an armchair in the waiting room and trying to appear as though she hadn’t been pacing for the past half hour.

“Yeah,” said Alex. “He remembered you. The real you.”

“How? After all this time, it’s strange that he remembered me so quickly,” said Katja.

“This,” said Alex, gesturing to the white coat. “I put it on and suddenly he remembered the past me and then you. Apparently you used to put it on me when you went swimming.”

“I did,” said Katja, smiling. “I can’t believe I forgot about that.”

“Well, come on, let’s go reunite you with your son,” said Alex. Katja smiled again and followed her, keeping close to her. She was nervous, of course, but she also really wanted to see her son again after so long. It wasn’t like she’d been forbidden from coming to the room and seeing him, but seeing him still under Garnok’s control was so terrible that she’d stopped visiting.

Buck grinned and walked up to the mirror as he caught sight of his mother. “Mum!”

“Oh, Buck,” said Katja, tears in her eyes. “My son.” She looked to the druid to ask for permission to enter, but the door was already open.

Alex watched, smiling, as her wife embraced her long-lost son. All of the pain of seeing him hating her and trying to remember how to live as a human, and the difficulty of even retrieving him from the Dark Core base in the first place, it was all worth it to see this reunion.


End file.
